Geniza Lab

Letter sent from al-Ahwaz by Efrayim b. Sa'id to the three senior Tustari brothers, Abu Nasr Sahl, Abu Ya'qub Yosef and Abu Sahl, in Fustat, listing textiles sent from Iran and ordering others from Egypt. Dated March 4, 1026. (Information from Gil, and from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 164)

Legal document in which a woman sells, with the consent of her husband and father, one quarter of her father's house, to another woman named Shamsiyya. The property had been given to her as part of her dowry and it bordered the residence of the Nagid. Dated ca. 1235. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, 281)

Letter from Abū l-Faḍl and his mother, perhaps in Fustat, to his father Abū Naṣr, in Asyūṭ. In Judaeo-Arabic. Much of the letter is in the voice of the mother, though Abū l-Faḍl is presumably taking dictation. The letter complains about the hardship of the family after the father/husband had fled to Asyūṭ in Upper Egypt and left them without support. There is no one who can buy even a pound of meat for the children. A certain woman is still sick (right margin, ll. 3–4). It seems that Abū Naṣr had deposited some gold with a certain Abū l-Faḍl (a different person than the son who wrote this letter) in Alexandria "for the orphan girl." But the family has heard no news of this gold and fears it is lost, because Abū l-Faḍl's wife has died and Abū l-Faḍl himself is very sick (ʿalā khuṭṭa) (last lines of right margin, continuing into the upper margin). (Information in part from CUDL and Med Soc, IV, pp. 245, 439, 440; V, pp. 88, 89.) ASE

Writ of agency written in Tyre, approximately 1025.

A Karaite legal deed in which the bride, Dhukhr, who is in Tyre, appoints her father, David b. Ishaq ha-Levi, in Fustat to betroth her to any man he wishes. Published by Gil, Addenda to Palestine. Mentions Abu Nasr ha-nasi. The bride's sister's husband is named Adiyya, known as Abu Sai'd b. Menashshe. The two witnesses in court are Moshe b. Sib'a and Aharon b. Faraj. Signed by Shemuel Hakohen b. Wahab, Musafir b. Simha, Yosef Hakoen b. Efrayim, Yosef Hakohen ha-haver b. Ya'aqov the scribe, Eli b. Shelomo. Join: M. A. Friedman, JMP, I, 218, n. 5 (see Ashur, PhD diss., p. 65. n. 54).

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Legal document concerning houses that are part of the estate of the deceased Abraham Castro. At the time of writing, Mordechai רקאק is renting one property, and Shemuʾel Ibn Yaḥyā rents another. The document also mentions the following individuals, who have a family connection to the estate of Abraham Castro: Jacob Castro he-Ḥakham, Isaac Castro, Joseph Saʿadya, and Esther the sister of Isaac. This document refers to several previous documents that were brought to the judges for authorisation. The first of these was dated Thursday 3rd Nisan 5402 (= 1642 CE), signed by Habib דנון and Moses [...]. The second document was dated 1643 CE, signed Moses Reuben the scribe, Isaac Castro and Judah [...]. The following judges approved the previous documents: Judah (?) b. Hezekiah ha-Kohen, Menaḥem ha-Kohen, and [...] Barukh, dated Monday 8th [...] 5416 (= 1656 CE) in Cairo. The document is signed by Shelomo b. Shemuʾel, Somekh ha-Kohen (scribe), and Shelomo b. Ezra (?). (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Ladino by Abraham Palieche to his sister, dated Elul 5324 (1564 CE). He is in Egypt/Cairo and wants her to come to meet him with the first ship to Alexandria. (Information from CUDL.) He begins by informing her that he is in Misrayim, i. e. Cairo: "Esta sera fazer vos saber komo esto aka en Misrayim. Ke por korer tanto la mi fortuna despues ke de vos me aparte . . . ." He then informs her of his wish to be reunited with her: ". . . kiera el shem itbarakh ke de aki adelante sea akabada la fortuna . . . ." He tells her to board: "la primera nave i veni vos por aki ke el shem itbarakh nos apiadara aki." He assures her that they will manage to subsist: "aki estaremos ganando . . . vos por vuestra parte y yo por la mia," pointing to a certain economic independence on the sister's part. After having thus solved any possible objections he turns to tell her what she is to bring with her: "esa tabla buena aki traeres una vasia para mi eskritura." If she does not understand she is not to worry: "vuestro hermano R. Ishaq YSU el vos enkaminara en todo esto y mira lo ke fazes no vos partais sin dinero . . . ." He ends by sending his "enkomiendas a vuestro hermano y su mujer a mi nina la bezares de mi parte el ke desea vervos mas ke eskrivirvos." He then adds a long postscript again telling her what to bring. On the journey she is to take a companion if she so wishes: "no receles de tomar algun hombre nekhbad o mujer . . . lo ke avreis menester tomares y abasares en Alexandria ke luego abasara vuestra hermana." From Eleazar Gutwirth, "The Family in Judeo-Spanish Genizah Letters," 212.

Letter from the brothers Shelomo Cesana, Ḥayyim Cesana, and Avraham Cesana to Merkado Karo and Avraham ha-Levi. Dated: 4 Shevaṭ 5566 AM, which is 23 January 1806 CE. Mentions numerous business partners, including the relatively well-known Daniel Mondolfo ha-Levi. (Information in part from CUDL and Khan's edition.)

Letter from the future Gaon Daniel b. ʿAzarya, in al-Mahdiyya, to the leader of the Babylonian community Sahlān b. Ibrāhīm (aka Abū ʿAmr Sahlān b. Barhūn), in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. Dating: Tuesday, 11 Tishrei, probably October 1038 CE (according to both Gil and Goitein). The letter congratulates Sahlān on his marriage, which we know to have taken place on 9 September 1037 CE, from his ketubba (T-S 20.6). The letter also discusses difficulties experienced by the Babylonian/Iraqi congregation of Fustat that were resolved with the intervention of Abū Naṣr Ḥesed al-Tustarī (ll. 13 and 16). Daniel is working on these matters together with the Rosh ha-Gola, at present in the Maghrib, and with the Nagid of Qayrawān (Yaʿaqov b. ʿAmram or Shemuel ha-Sefaradi). The Arabic-script address on verso references Sahlān’s late father Ibrāhīm b. Sahlān (d. ca. 1031), previously the head of the Iraqi community of Fustat, and refers to him as “Barhūn.” The letter briefly mentions Sahlān's deliverance from an illness, but this part of the letter is too damaged to discern any more information (l. 8). (Information from Gil and from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:511; 3:118, 451.) EMS. NB: As of 01/2022, the PGP transcription is missing all of the text in the margins and on verso.

Responsum, including financial matters relating to inheritance and to purchasing property. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter from Sharira Gaon. Around 970. The content is similar to his letters in T-S 28.24 and T-S 10 J1, in which he asks for communities’ support in his Yeshiva (Pumbedita). (Gil, Kingdom, vol. 2, Doc. #25) VMR

Letter from Ḥalfon b. Menashshe to Avraham b. Bundār. Location: Fustat. Dating: Early 12th century. Ornate thank you letter and narrative in which Ḥalfon b. Menashshe expresses gratitude for the wealthy Adeni merchants Avraham b. Bundar and the "Leader of the Congregations (either Ḥasan b. Bundar or his son Bundar II) who saved him from the debts that confronted him when he emerged from his life-threatening illness (r31–v2). "Ḥalfon was inflicted by a dangerous and protracted illness, and hopes for his recovery had already been lost. He did recover, but despite the helpfulness of the community and the devoted care of the physicians, he was forced to sell everything in the house, including his Sabbath clothing, and to incur debts to the amount of 12 dinars." Partial trans. Goitein and Friedman, India Traders, p. 44, and summarized in detail 306f.

Letter from Yoshiyyahu Gaon, probably 1024

Letter from Ya’aqov b. Nahum b. Hakhmon, from Tripoli (Libya), to Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria. Around 1060. The letter contains details about goods that arrived from Fustat. It is hard to unload them because there are goods on top of them. The writer mentions the prices of several goods and selling goods that Nahray sent to Tripoli. He asks Nahray to send the flax he bought for him through Sicily if there is no ship that sails from Alexandria to Tripoli. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #691) VMR

Letter from Yosef b. Mūsā al-Tāharti, from Mahdiyya, written on New Year's eve to Nahray b. Nissīm, Fustat. Probably September 6, 1062. Mercantile letter regarding the shipments of goods and amounts of money that are about to be sent to Egypt, mostly flax. Mentions “the orphans of Jerusalem” for whom Yosef sends his daughter’s used cloths and a shipment towards Sfax. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #369) VMR, YU.

Letter from Avraham, son of the Gaon, to Sahlan b. Avraham, approximately 1029.

Letter from Abū Saʿīd, in Palermo, to his brother Abū l-Barakāt known as Ṭāriq, in Fustat. Abū Saʿīd reports that he had fled the unrest in Ifrīqiyya and traveled to Palermo. Prior to departing Ifrīqiyya, it seems, Abū Saʿīd's wife and two sons were sick for four months, and his 1-year-old son died. It seems that Abu Saʿid had to pay 50 Murābiṭī dinars due to the medical care and due to the delay in travel plans. The sea voyage was also ill-fated. The travelers were shipwrecked by a storm on an island known as Ghumūr, where they stayed for 20 days, living on wild nettles. "We hardly resembled human beings." They set off again from the island in four boats, of which only the writer's boat survived, which reached Palermo after another 35 days at sea. "By these letters, for our first month in Palermo we couldn't eat bread or understand what was said to us, due to what happened to us at sea." With understatement, "This is why I did not join you in Egypt this year." Abū Saʿīd adds that he has not heard from Abū l-Barakāt in three years, and though he would like to relocate to Egypt, he hesitates because he does not even know if Abū l-Barakāt is still alive. Abū Saʿīd suggests, alternatively, that Abū l-Barakāt join him in Sicily. Dating: Ca. 1060, based on the reference to Murābiṭī dinars. Information from Gil. ASE.

Letter draft (beginning only) in Arabic script. From a certain Abū l-Ḥasan to the "distinguished physicians."

Letter from R. Yaʿaqov to Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Netanʾel, Cordoba. Yaʿaqov, who is otherwise unknown, writes regarding a dispute with Ḥalfon over the sources of a halakhic ruling, whether one should refer back to the talmud directly or to the geʾonim. Also includes ad hominem attacks. Yaʿaqov sought to bring the dispute to arbitration before Ibn Migash and Yehonatan Ben Ghiyat. Faded and difficult to decipher, in addition the usual problems of vagueness on matters well-known to both sender and recipient. (Information from Friedman and Goitein, Ḥalfon [India Book vol. 4]) Probably Lucena